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Fortnite VGA 2011 Trailer (Epic's New IP) - [Epic: Like Minecraft, More Info]

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
If they were a smaller developer like Housemarque or ThatGameCompany I'd understand that, but these guys are rolling in money.

Yeah, but they're also risk averse.

Apple paid for the entire marketing budget of Infinity Blade and Microsoft published Shadow Complex.

They've been picking partners who can absorb risk for them while still very heavily promoting titles.
 

Haunted

Member
Trailer didn't excite me, reminded me too much of the recent glut of third person/first person TD games.

Not a big fan of these defence-building/last stand type of games in the first place though, so I'm biased.
 
It is just as Nirolak says, they seem to be an incredibly risk averse company. Remember, when asked about Epic's new mystery IP which turned out to be this FortNite business, Mike Capps said he was "terrified".

I should've known they wouldn't have the balls to put out a console/PC game so soon, especially after what happened with Bulletstorm.
 
Yeah, but they're also risk averse.

Apple paid for the entire marketing budget of Infinity Blade and Microsoft published Shadow Complex.

They've been picking partners who can absorb risk for them while still very heavily promoting titles.

This annoys me. They've raked in cash for Gears and UE for all these years but they are still tight-arsed enough to develop a downloadable property and not market/publish it themselves. Then again, why am I surprised? They can't even be bothered to put a 'tentpole' game out for systems they desperately want other people to use their engine for.
 
@MrLeePerry Lee Perry

I see lots of questions asking if #fortnite is freeform construction. It is. It's not scripted or just boarding up existing structures.
Cool. Perhaps they're going to implement a sort of basic, built-in mini-UDK to build forts however we want.
 

2San

Member
This annoys me. They've raked in cash for Gears and UE for all these years but they are still tight-arsed enough to develop a downloadable property and not market/publish it themselves. Then again, why am I surprised? They can't even be bothered to put a 'tentpole' game out for systems they desperately want other people to use their engine for.
Yeah, wanting to be a stable company is so stupid and greedy of them!
 
Yeah, wanting to be a stable company is so stupid and greedy of them!

This game won't be very expensive. Epic are stupidly rich. Its not as if they are a small team trying to break through. They are established and make multi-million selling games.

Tobor said:
Exactly. How many companies have we seen fold or have to sell after over-reaching in the last few years?

The notion that a company the size of Epic with a massive warchest of funds would fold from making a relatively small downloadable title and publishing it themselves is ridiculous.

I bet they all sit in their offices and don't venture outside in case a meteor falls from space and kills them.
 
How much money do you think they get for Gears?

Gears + continual Unreal Engine license fees + money made from Unreal Tournament.

Given that the first Gears cost less than $10 million to make and the series has gone on to sell more than 13 million units (probably doesn't include Gears 3) and sold a metric fuck ton of DLC. . .I think they can afford to take a small financial risk.

The Gears series itself has generated more than $1 Billion.
 

Tobor

Member
This game won't be very expensive. Epic are stupidly rich. Its not as if they are a small team trying to break through. They are established and make multi-million selling games.



The notion that a company the size of Epic with a massive warchest of funds would fold from making a relatively small downloadable title and publishing it themselves is ridiculous.

I bet they all sit in their offices and don't venture outside in case a meteor falls from space and kills them.


I'm not saying this one game would kill them, but that doesn't mean a more conservative approach to development isn't a good idea right now.

They just had a flop in Bulletstorm after all, and Shadow Complex wasn't a moneymaker, either. Why not stick with the process that is working? Stick a line in the water, and see if you can get one of the big companies to bite.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
I'm not saying this one game would kill them, but that doesn't mean a more conservative approach to development isn't a good idea right now.

They just had a flop in Bulletstorm after all, and Shadow Complex wasn't a moneymaker, either. Why not stick with the process that is working? Stick a line in the water, and see if you can get one of the big companies to bite.

Shadow Complex was profitable, just not as big as they hoped.
 
I'm not saying this one game would kill them, but that doesn't mean a more conservative approach to development isn't a good idea right now.

They just had a flop in Bulletstorm after all, and Shadow Complex wasn't a moneymaker, either. Why not stick with the process that is working? Stick a line in the water, and see if you can get one of the big companies to bite.

Shadow Complex has sold at least 545,000 copies and launched at $15. If they couldn't make money off of that. . .well, that says a lot about them.

Sure, if it works for them, stick with it. I just find it ridiculous that a company the size of Epic with so much money wants to be breastfed by a publisher because they are too scared to take a little risk themselves.
 

macewank

Member
I was actually more excited about this until I found out the details =/ ... Tower defense. That's not at all a genre that's been run into the ground. ugh
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
there is nothing bad in being risk-averse even if you are rolling in money. Because today you have money and then shit happens and you have no money (new consoles bombed, some other engine eats your market share, economic crisis and so on). Such is life.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
So where do we stand with the 5 Epic projects? I lost count. IB2, Fortnite?

Yeah.

In theory Demon's Score should be there, but I think Epic is disowning that one.

So that leaves us with Epic's next gen game, People Can Fly's game, and their f2p title, unless one of those three is the same thing, in which case it's still probably another North Carolina game.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Yeah.

In theory Demon's Score should be there, but I think Epic is disowning that one.

So that leaves us with Epic's next gen game, People Can Fly's game, and their f2p title, unless one of those three is the same thing, in which case it's still probably another North Carolina game.
Where does that leave the rumoured Gears prequel trilogy?
 

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
Looks like a fun concept, the only thing that bothers me is the 3rd person part. Guess we'll see how the gameplay plays and feels sooner or later.
 
This annoys me. They've raked in cash for Gears and UE for all these years but they are still tight-arsed enough to develop a downloadable property and not market/publish it themselves. Then again, why am I surprised? They can't even be bothered to put a 'tentpole' game out for systems they desperately want other people to use their engine for.

From what high-ranking people at HEAVILY successful companies full of zeitgeist like Epic and even Valve have alluded to in many interviews (Rein, CliffyB, Newell, etc) is that that success is fleeting in this generation and it scares them. The blunt honesty and when they gave this commentary gives me confidence that it isn't BS.

That said, this looks as part-bin from recent successful games as the buildings in that trailer look until proven that it "clicks".
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
That was one of the most disappointing trailers I've seen in a while. I can understand why they'd want to jump into this type of game, but man, I just have no interest in it. :(
 

Odrion

Banned
This annoys me. They've raked in cash for Gears and UE for all these years but they are still tight-arsed enough to develop a downloadable property and not market/publish it themselves. Then again, why am I surprised? They can't even be bothered to put a 'tentpole' game out for systems they desperately want other people to use their engine for.
If there's anything I've learned from watching development studios rise and fall, it's that a couple bombs can bring it all down.
 

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
If there's anything I've learned from watching development studios rise and fall, it's that a couple bombs can bring it all down.

it's different with Epic because they have their engine business. They can easily absorb 1-2 bombs according to Capps but nobody wants bombs.

Bulletstorm had set their head straight. A tragedy - that's what happened with this game. It wasn't marketed right though.
 

Hey You

Member
Epic has also mentioned that they want to go back to making games for the PC again.

It just makes sense that this game would be F2P. No way Sony or MS would allow a F2P model on their system. Sony has Home, but that is the closest thing they have to "freemium" content. No such thing exists on Live, unless I'm just completely ignorant.

Crimson Alliance is a F2P game...
 

Tobor

Member
So far we know that you gather resources to build during the day, and at night zombies come out.

Right, much more game than Minecraft has. Definitely.

With Minecraft, you quickly reach a point where your defenses are impervious to the monsters. They never scale up or escalate their attack.

There's plenty of room for a different take on this premise, one more focused on survival and escalation.
 

Sciz

Member
Epic does a shooter with bald space marines

"meh, how original of Epic"

Epic does something that might play and certainly looks unique

"oh shit, what happened to them, this is such a letdown and doesn't look like epic at all, Epic fail amirite"


It looks interesting and it doesn't look like something Epic would make.
Which is a PLUS in case you're wondering.

It kills me that people have come to know Epic only for the former sort of game when the latter is exactly the kind of game they built the company on.
 

charsace

Member
That was one of the most disappointing trailers I've seen in a while. I can understand why they'd want to jump into this type of game, but man, I just have no interest in it. :(

Play Terraria. If this game is like Terraria, but with Epic's type of gameplay it will be awesome. I can only dream what a sword would do in this game.
 

scitek

Member
untitlednezfv.jpg

http://twitter.com/#!/ForkParker/status/145975833205542912

I laughed at this.
 

Satchel

Banned
Could be a good game if anyone ended up bothering to give it a go.

It looks very meh, and I expect that much like Bulletstorm, it will go largely ignored.
 
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